Bang Shift Approved Economy Car?

[BBR]

Buying something to save money, eh?

Let's think about that.

I assume your current car is paid off and it gets 23mpg.

Used economy car: $6000

6000/3.69 (current price of gas here) = 1,626 gallons

1,626 gallons x 23 mpg = 37,398 miles you could drive your current car for the cost of a 'cheaper car'. That's not counting registration, maintenance and additional insurance.

To you, this might work since you drive so many miles/day. I only drive 7 miles round trip and come home for lunch, so it would take me roughly 7 years for it to make financial sense.

Just for fun, if I bought a 30k new car to 'save money' I could just drive my current vehicle instead, for another 186,990 miles, or roughly 36 more years. lmao

[SuperBuickGuy]

Buying something to save money, eh?

Let's think about that.

I assume your current car is paid off and it gets 23mpg.

Used economy car: $6000

6000/3.69 (current price of gas here) = 1,626 gallons

1,626 gallons x 23 mpg = 37,398 miles you could drive your current car for the cost of a 'cheaper car'. That's not counting registration, maintenance and additional insurance.

To you, this might work since you drive so many miles/day. I only drive 7 miles round trip and come home for lunch, so it would take me roughly 7 years for it to make financial sense.

Just for fun, if I bought a 30k new car to 'save money' I could just drive my current vehicle instead, for another 186,990 miles, or roughly 36 more years. lmao

You forgot two things that might change that calculation.
1) the value of the current car - you need to subtract that dollar figure from the purchase price
2) wife happiness quotient. Some might say this is the most important calculation of all.

[Russell]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]484[/ATTACH]

I would eat cat food before I drove that ^^

I had a diesel 123 on wvo I was buying it already filtered. I never collected any don't want to go that route again.

My non car guy house is on the market now. Anybody looking for a house in raleigh?

I am good at math and I understand cost / benifet, I have never made more than one payment on a car. I would like to keep it that way. Looks like I should stop crying. Its hard to justify a car purchase b/c of gas mileage, even harder when you don't really want to drive it.

[BBR]

You forgot two things that might change that calculation.
1) the value of the current car - you need to subtract that dollar figure from the purchase price
2) wife happiness quotient. Some might say this is the most important calculation of all.

1) only if you are selling the current driver
2) mine does not care just so long as she does not have to drive and/or ride in it. Besides equations that contain a 'woman factor' seldom are: a) predictable, b) repeatable, c) logical and d) any combination of a, b, c.

haha

[Stich496]

MINI Cooper S.

What's not to like about a 35 mpg highway car, 28 mixed, with a blower. Handles like its on rails. We've got just short of 200,000 miles on ours.

And they aren't particularly hard to work on. We just went through a head swap after my son ran it out of coolant.

Lots of speed parts available.

the buy in hurts, clean ones are not cheap..

[Russell]

You forgot two things that might change that calculation.
1) the value of the current car - you need to subtract that dollar figure from the purchase price
2) wife happiness quotient. Some might say this is the most important calculation of all.

1) I currently don't have a car I am willing to sell
2) she has not said anything lately, most of the time she can separate emotion from math and will let math win if the # is big enough

[TheSilverBuick]

I've got almost 12,000 miles on my motorcycle, and it's only 1/3 of the way for "paying for itself" at ~48-50mpg. I'd get a ton more use out of it if I lived in So. Cal. still and rode it year round and through traffic. But at only 18 miles/day..... =P My previous bike was a $400 investment and I got ~25,000 miles out of it riding it year round.

[Thumpin455]

Well if all you want is mid 20s to 30 mpg then a 4th gen F body with 2.73 gears will do it for you. Mine gets 26-27 mixed on either premium (91-93) or 45% ethanol mixed with 87 octane. On the highway it gets 29-31 with the higher mileage being at higher speeds, like 80mph on I80 through Nebraska. The problem with these cars is preventing yourself from modifying them, its so easy to make them quick, its almost impossible not to just upgrade them because you can. Mine ran mid 13s stone stock, and a buddy ran 11.80@114 with bolt ons, a converter and the stock 2.73 gears in his. He did take the passenger seat out though.

For around a city I like an older VW GTi. Stock they will embarrass all the asian econoboxes handily. I had an 84,GTi it was a hoot to drive, the injector box went on it and I was headed to Korea so it went away. I had $200 in it. My winter beaters do pretty good on gas, they were 97 Intrepids or a 98 Gran Prix. 31-35 is easy with them on 87 octane, and nobody cares if they rust in half. Have yet to pay more than $500 for a winter beater that lasts more than 4 years.

I need a winter beater, so I make it something with a small engine, that is easy to work on, that isnt completely soulless. The GP fits nice.

[moparmaniac07]

take cool out of the equation for a second is there a car that you can buy for a couple grand that will get 40 mpg @ 80mph?

My Stratus would get 40 mpg at 60mph, bump it up to 80 and the mileage would drop to high 20s. Small engines lose the fuel economy advantages when they have to run double the rpms to go the same speed as the big boys. Highway gears and overdrive help a lot with that.

[milkovich]

the Metro XFI (which had the special two ring pistons, a special cam, and a special gearset) is infamous for knocking down over 50 mpg epa... better then the prius. The XFI is kind of a unicorn but the regular 3cyl five speeds can be found on craigslist for 3-5k in good shape (depending on the price of gas)... when gas goes down to 3.20 again metro/spring/swifts will be practically free. Sdd some low rolling resistance tires and the XFI cam and you've easily got a 50+mpg car.

EDIT: EPA mileage is also typically lower then observed mileage when you drive conservatively.

[Brian Lohnes]

I had an SVT Focus and with the 6-speed that thing would knock down some good mileage on the highway. I'm sure those are spendy for what we're talking about here, though.

What about an old Lumina (sedan not wagon), Corsica, Buick Century, etc....those should all be damned close to 30mpg highway...right? Plus no one wants them so they should be cheap. Sure, they're awful cars but the mileage is decent.

[Stich496]

pontiac 6000
151 4 bang and you can't kill it..
30mpg hyway easy

[ford141]

I had a Metro for a while when I was in college. I was broke as a joke and had a 45mile round trip commute to school, which I sometimes would do 2x per day, so I thought it made sense to get a super economical car. It got no less that 39 mpg, even running it to the floor (which I had to do constantly since we have hills here in western PA). The problem was I hated it. I dreaded getting in that POS every day, and I couldn't wait to get out of it. It was built so cheap that the friggin windows would fall out of their tracks because the tracks were flimsy and would bend. I sold it after 9 months and bought a 5 speed Isuzu pickup. I lost 10mpg, but the fun factor and driving pleasure went WAY up. I'll take that trade-off any day.

But you say you need something cheap that will get 40mpg at 80 mph? How bout this?



This is my alternative to my V10 Super Duty for daily driving chores. 1983 Honda Nighthawk 650. I paid $600 for this thing. It averages 40mpg blasting twisty backroads all day long, can run in the 12s in the 1/4, insurance is $100 per year, registration is $18 per year, and no emissions checks. IMO, if you are considering an additional vehicle, you can't beat a bike. You might not be able to ride it every day, but you still have the Mustang to fall back on. The yearly costs and maintenance costs are low, and the fun factor is high.

[Barry Donovan]

2.3 fox mustangs knock down some pretty good fuel economy...

yes, that is a good one. 100k at a time..
the carbed of course.

there is v6 leaned out along the way to. thicker blocks to no balance.. may as well make them earn what they got.

the 3 main boxers are champs forever. Seems silly to even mention it.

all fun. real fires, light chassis...

the kings get the diesel. I am shamed for even witnessing what I have. The 10 times capable and similar mileage as a little car.

[Bob Holmes]

Interesting thoughts on the small cars.

Perhaps a Honda CRX HF. The CRXs cleaned up in autocross back in the day and were quite tossable. The HF was the high fuel mileage version.

But, probably hard to find now a days.